The Rivers State Government has dedicated this year’s Arts and Cultural Festival popularly known as CARNIRIV to the hands of God to ensure a hitch free celebration.

The event tagged CARNIRIV praise jam, heralds the official opening ceremony of the week-long activities today. Other events slated for the day include. Pilgrimage ’88 and Dance of Fire Flies (DOPF).

The Director General of Rivers State Tourism Development Agency (RSTDA), Dr. Sam Dede, disclosed this to newsmen yesterday at the Liberation Stadium Port Harcourt.

According to him, “Praize Jam gives our people the opportunity to enjoy themselves, while we praize God for all we have gone through in the last 12 months, we have come a long way and we are still here and standing very strong in spite of the problems we have had as a state.

He stressed that 25 artistes are expected to perform at the praize jam and almost all of them are home based including Chioma Jesus, Aphy Douglas and a host of others. He also noted that this year’s CARNIRIV will give opportunity to up and coming artistes most of whom have not been on stage before to perform on the big stage. The international artiste will perform using the same equipment.

The Director General maintained that this was just a way of empowering them and expose them to the International Community.

He debunked reports that last year, CARNIRIV was dominated by Lagos-based artistes and International Stars while the local artistes were not carried along and those that participated received peanuts.

According to him, the aim of the CARNIRIV is to create a carnival that is recognized worldwide, adding that we need to bring internationally acclaimed artistes to perform and not to put the foreign artistes above our own indigenous artistes.

He recalled that “last year, Shaggy and Duncan mighty did a song together and it was a good experience for our people and that is what we aim at.”

According to him “This year, the expectations are very high and we expect this year’s carnival to be better that last year because we have tried to correct all the mistakes of last year, if there were any.

“We are very committed to ensuring that our people own the carnival and to make it their own, so everybody should come and let us celebrate what we have together”, he said.

The RSTDA boss disclosed that for the first time in the history of CARNIRIV, the agency was introducing a 70-horse Durbar which is popular in the Northern part of Nigeria which they have brought to stay in the state.

He explained the 70 horses will be at the parade during the international heritage parade and promises to be a colourful event, he concluded.

Dr. Sam Dede further stated that this year’s edition of Carniriv will provide a thrilling and entertaining display between December 15, to 21 in Port Harcourt City.

Speaking on the line up of activities slated for the carnival, he said “We have the international culture parade which is essentially culture driven, series of cultural displays at the carnival village that takes place daily showcasing the 23 local governments.

“We also have traditional wrestling which is a spectacular event we introduced last year that has caught on into the major event of the carnival as well as the international aquatic festival which is the boat regatta. “It is a spectacular event that you don’t want to miss. So we are telling the world that what we took to Notting hill, what we took to Trinidad and Tobago, what we took to Rio carnival is just a little of what they expect to see at the carnival. I think that the Rivers people should be proud of what we have to showcase.

Further, he said: “We will also have participation from some neighbouring states like Anambra, Bayelsa, Akwa- Ibom and Abia in the cultural event. We also have the Trinidad and Tobago troupe coming. What we want Rivers people to understand is that carnival is a unifying factor. When we do carnivals, nobody talks about political divides, religious divides, everybody comes together, they wave their flags and along the street of the carnival roads, nobody stands aside and says I am on this side or that I am on that side.

“I think we need to take advantage of the spirit of goodwill that carnival brings to us for the period and we just enjoy carnival for the fact that it brings all of us together as one and if you listen to the theme song of the carnival. There is a line there that says “after all we have been through, look at where we are, we still stand strong as a people”, he said.

Dede said Rivers people have come a long way, adding “look at where we are, we are still celebrating our essence as a people. I think that we should take advantages of the unifying factor of the carnival and just get on with it.”

Jacob Obinna